Merciless
by Ailsa89
Summary: It's been a year and the community are steadily rebuilding their world but suddenly and without warning, Quinn is attacked by the dragon they name: Merciless --FINISHED!!!
1. The Chase

~ Reign of Fire is amazing-- but owned by the director, the producer, writers, actors etc and not me. Still, I loved it! ~ ~ This starts where the movie ends, or there about. The male dragon has been destroyed but something sinister is coming.~  
  
Quinn rested a hand on the horse's back and heaved himself up. The stirrups were old and fell off.  
  
"Damn," he hissed, kicking his heels back into the horse's rump. It moved forward half-heartedly and after sometime, Quinn managed to drive him to a gallop. They pounded along the wet earth, the rhythmic drumming echoing through the valleys. Grass grew thickly under the horse hooves. Small white flowers littered the hillside and curving slopes. On the horizon, Quinn could make out the watchtower. Two small figures were waving at him. He raised a hand to reply. The horse reared, flinging Quinn backwards. He landed with a crunch amongst the ferns. His steed was already cantering away, saddle slipped on its side.  
  
"Hoi! Hoi, get back!" Quinn yelled, waving his hands but the horse would not stop and it sped on until it passed down into the valley, out of sight.  
  
And before he knew what was happening, Quinn was on his face, pressed flat to the earth. Out of instinct. Years of preparation.  
  
What do we do in the day? Keep both eyes on the sky  
  
Quinn rolled onto his back and stared up at the grey world above. It was twisting like a snake, wrapping itself into knots. Once in a while, a patch of clear blue would appear, a wound amid the clouds.  
  
What do we do at night? Keep one eye on the sky  
  
The ever-familiar sound was drawing close. The great whoosh of air and grating in his ears. Flapping. Up and down, constantly getting closer.  
  
What do we do when we see them? Dig deep, run hard and never look back  
  
The dragon dived out of the sky, jaws wide, revealing the glands within. Quinn couldn't move. His breathing was ragged and pain rippled along his arms and legs. Waves of fear slid through. The dragon kept coming, eyes fixed on its prey. Quinn had never felt so helpless before. The closest he'd ever come to seeing them.again.  
  
That was why the horse had run. And he had known. The dragon swooped down but was caught in a huge gust of wind and taking off course. A window.  
  
Quinn scrambled to his feet and ran. Tripping on the tangled grass, picking himself up again and running faster. Voices could already be heard. The horizon drew nearer with every step. But the wings were behind him. There was a piercing shriek that seemed to flame.  
  
"Never look back, never look back," Quinn was breathing. His breath came in chokes now. He was nothing but bait. And time was no longer on his side. He fell flat, pressing his face into the earth and screwing his eyes shut. The dragon soared over his head and made for the skies again. Another window.  
  
Quinn pelted down the slope and headed up.  
  
"Hurry, Quinn! Get inside!"  
  
"Oh God, no," he exclaimed as he started struggling up the other side. Alex and Gerald were there. He had led it right to the watchtower. Then again, it had been designed for this. For fire that is. But if a dragon flew into it. Gasping, Quinn reached the summit and what felt like hundreds of hands clutched at him and dragged him inside the doors. Nearby, Gerald was calming the black horse down.  
  
"Bring him in too!" Quinn yelled to him, "Quick-"  
  
The dragon roared past. It was louder than a hundred armies. More powerful than a hundred Hiroshima bombs. And more terrifying than a hundred nightmares together. Gerald hauled the horse behind him as he threw himself inside.  
  
"All the grass's on fire!" he cried. There was a large welt on the horse's rump, which smoked slightly. A spark of that size could kill a grown man. Another sheet of flame rocked the tower.  
  
"It's been a year!" gasped Alex, hands clutching at Quinn.  
  
"It took a year for them to become a thousand. We couldn't expect them to go instantly," Quinn muttered, watching through the flame-proof glass. The dragon was circling now. It would appear now and then and send purple gold fire into the centre of the construction.  
  
"Will it hold?" Gerald shouted, gripping the wall as another blow vibrated the fort.  
  
"It'll hold," Quinn said, "But that dragon ain't going anywhere. Head upstairs, all of you!" 


	2. The Defence

~ So, are you excited? Read on, lovely reader, read on! And, if you like it enough, review on, lovely reviewer, review on! ~  
  
The group pounded onto the roof covered by turrets of stone. The dragon was farther below so they had very little time. Alex was already at the supported crossbow. Quinn was shouting orders at the bustling workers.  
  
"Bring up the arrows.careful, don't trip! Now get down to the lower rooms and keep safe. Go now!"  
  
The others darted inside.  
  
"Sure you'll be OK?" Gerald said, pausing at the door. Quinn stopped panicking for a moment to smile at him.  
  
"I'll be OK, Gerald. You look after the others- keep 'em calm."  
  
"Right," the boy replied and sprinted back down the steps, leaving the door ajar for his friends. Alex looked up at Quinn as he loaded the first deadly arrow.  
  
"It's Merciless," she was saying. The man looked up sharply.  
  
"It's a dragon. So?"  
  
"No, no," his wife said in exasperation, "An old dragon. Very old. Van Dant and I.we saw it before! That's Merciless, the biggest female dragon. What's she doing over England?"  
  
"Do we need to worry about that now?"  
  
As Quinn spoke, there was a shriek and a huge rush of hot air. Merciless the dragon rose up above them, her sleek red scales shimmering gold in the sunlight. Her eyes were the colour of mountains and her spikes looked like mighty black pine trees trailing along her spine. Her shadow cast a cold wave over the two figures under her. Merciless screamed again and arched back her neck, hovering just over the watchtower, preparing for the dive. A window.  
  
"Shoot, for God's sake, now, do it!" shouted Quinn. As the last word left his lips, the arrow streaked up into the air, giving off a faint whistling sound. It raced through the atmosphere, cleaving the oxygen like a blade through snow. Merciless veered but not far enough. The container and its carrier plunged into the side of her ear. Quinn covered his ears, as there was a bloodcurdling wail. It ripped from the dragon's throat as she dropped down. Alex was gaping over the crossbow.  
  
"But it isn't dead!" she shouted, "We shot in the wrong place."  
  
"Load another!" Quinn yelled, obeying his own command. But too late. Merciless had already gained height and was limping into the clouds, leaving her final outraged scream ringing behind her.  
  
"Still alive," breathed Quinn. He looked over at Alex. "What is it doing over England?" 


	3. The Promise

~ Merciless is very bad. Nasty dragon- die. Only a while more to go and if you love me, please review! And you don't love me come to think of it and you love the story, be nice to Quinn and review it- ooh, sexy Quinn, ooh. ~  
  
"Has it gone? Is it dead?" Gerald cried the moment they entered the room. The look Alex gave him sucked the words from his mouth. The workers slumped against the wall.  
  
"Another bloody dragon to worry about," muttered Anja from the corner.  
  
"Oh, thank you," Quinn spat, "That's very optimistic."  
  
Anja looked up, tight curls falling from their grip at the back.  
  
"Well, it's all very well saying that," she said, "But this is in a year! And we're isolated from the castle by about sixty miles."  
  
Quinn winced. He hated the Welsh. Why couldn't they talk without moving from the top of the scale to the bottom with each syllable?  
  
"Seventy," he grunted, "It's seventy miles."  
  
He stomped out of the room, muttering sourly under his breath. Alex watched him go anxiously. Gerald rolled his eyes. He knew Quinn better than any of them. He'd get over it. Dragons get everybody down. He shook his head as Anja tried to rise.  
  
"Don't start after him, Miss. Let him think a bit."  
  
"I'm sorry if I sounded harsh," she said resentfully, nodding to Alex as well, "But I'm sick of running. That was all I spent my childhood doing. We did a fine job on this here tower and I'm damned if I'm going to see yet another burned to the ground!"  
  
With a this final abrupt rolling 'r', Anja stormed away back downstairs towards the kitchenette. Alex and Gerald glanced at each other and sighed. They sat down next to the workers and conversation slowly returned.  
  
Quinn sat alone in the smallest room. It was almost a cupboard with nothing but a circular table at one end and a chair beside it. He leaned on the hard wood, head in his hands and closing his eyes. There was no point in getting all excited again. Why waste precious time on getting angry with people? They had to wait. That was always the worst.  
  
What do we do in the day?  
  
Quinn turned his eyes to the window next to him, rubbing away the brick dust gathered on the single pane.  
  
What do we do in the day?  
  
He peered out into the early evening gloom. Darkness was seeping over the hills like wine. The ruins of an abbey sat in the distance, it's outline standing out against the grey sky as if someone had drawn it with a thick black marker pen.  
  
What do we do in the day?  
  
"Keep both eyes on the sky," Quinn said to himself as he turned his eye to the churning clouds. 


	4. The Skin

~ I'm so sorry if you're Welsh and were insulted by the last chapter. Don't worry, Quinn will get over it. Hopefully Merciless will go over them--- ~  
  
The dawn came with the weak heartbeat of light. It pulsed into the sky as a pale bleakness that stretched amid the clouds. Quinn led the party up towards the abbey ruins, skirting round the hilltop. They were holding their breath, waiting and watching. After hours of painful trekking, they reached the remains. Alex went to the centre where the stones rose up to a higher level. She stamped on it to make sure it was secure. Then she beckoned the other workers to follow her. They were all bearing small crossbows, the deadly arrows locked into place and pointing at the sky. Alex and the rest formed themselves into a large circle and looked up, ready and waiting. Quinn and Gerald were moving north to the summit of the hill. They looked down to see the carved out valley before them. The hill was sucked in on the other side, worn away so that chunks of rock protruded out of the earth like fingers.  
  
"It's a good look-out point," said Quinn stonily, "You can see everything from here. From a long way away. Good luck." Gerald didn't catch the indication quickly but it broke on him like icy water. But before he could begin to protest he was hauled in front of a supported crossbow.  
  
"I can't- I, you know, I-"  
  
"You'll do fine," Quinn interrupted him and turned away. Gerald guessed he would run back to the abbey but instead he ran along the hill edge until he came to a shallow drop. Climbing over, he stumbled down the embankments- letting out several curses along the way- until he finally reached the valley floor. He raised his hand in farewell. Gerald lifted a shaky palm, so confused he thought his brain would implode.  
  
Quinn worked his legs harder, pumping down the old burnt track. The breath laboured in his chest but he kept on relentless. He knew what he was looking for. Something Van Zant had taught him to search for. Not easy to miss.  
  
'They only perform this in secluded places,' rang the words in his head, 'And it has to be shadowed- they ain't proud of giving up something as old as that.'  
  
Quinn swerved round the hill to another inset cave. It was enormous and littered with bleached chalky bones. Right at the centre sat the silhouette of a dragon. The flaky red skin rustled in the breeze, its papery thin hide shivering. And all the weight of a child. Quinn gently enfolded the neck and hefted the structure up. It wavered in his grip but he held it tight. Then, carefully, ever so carefully, he drew the giant shed dragon skin into the light. 


	5. The Plan

~ Dragon skins and hunky Quinn- oh, anyway, thank you all for those lovely reviews. Sorry for getting it wrong! ( OK, so it's Van Zan from now on. ~  
  
"Dragon! Drag- well, I think it's a: Dragon!"  
  
Gerald's frantic cries brought them to the cliff edge and soon all of the company were staring down at the beast crawling below them.  
  
"Is it a dragon?" Anja asked.  
  
"No," Alex replied hesitantly, "If that was right, Quinn would be dead.but he's carrying the thing!"  
  
A chorus of gasps and screams went up. The dragon was rising up towards them. But it was true. Through the semi-transparence of the animal, they could make out Quinn, working steadily up the chalky slope, the creature supported on his back. Everyone was far too astonished to shoot anything.  
  
"Alright?" Quinn said when he reached the top. The team walked slowly about the dragon skin as he placed it gently down, gazing up in awe. Alex ran across to him.  
  
"Jesus, Quinn! What is this thing?"  
  
"It's Merciless," Quinn replied stoutly, "Well, her skin any'ow."  
  
"'Course," his wife said with cool sarcasm, "Why didn't I realise that at once?"  
  
They returned to the Watchtower when the sun was high up. The clouds had been brushed aside, leaving clear blue roadways streaking overhead. The horse did not even flinch when it saw the skin. Quinn told himself cheerfully that it was more intelligent than Anja. Ducking inside he started giving out instructions.  
  
"Gerald, get me lots of wood from the stock at the back. Get Mike to help you out. Erm.ah, yeah, Alex! I want you to go up and get me some lighters from the lads' toolboxes. They have loads. Anja, fetch some matches from the kitchen. The rest of you can start setting that skin up facing out from the north wall. I'll be there in a moment."  
  
He was daring to hope that Merciless would not come back until nightfall. He had trusted Van Zan before on that. Van Zan had never been wrong.  
  
"Hope you're not going to let me down this time, old man," he prayed to wherever the man was now. He hoped he wasn't having too nice a time.  
  
Soon everyone was standing outside. Anja sat defiantly to one side and ate her rations from the store.  
  
"I can't see why we couldn't run," she said to the man beside her. He shook his head at her in disbelief.  
  
"Just dump that wood round it's neck, Gerald. There's a good lad," said Quinn, ruffling the boy's hair. The dragon skin was all set about with piles of timber. The supports left over from the scaffolding had been broken up too. Now it was just the skin rustling in the evening breeze. A silence had fallen like snow. Quinn shook himself but then stopped. Had he heard something? Voices began starting up again and he had to yell at them to pipe down. There it was again! He couldn't make it out. Wait. Wait. Then there! Yes, he'd heard it! A long distant screech.  
  
"Look!" shouted Anja from the wall. She leaped to her feet, arm outstretched. They all turned to where she pointed and saw, inked out on the horizon, Merciless's head rearing up. A black head rising forth and back, forth and back. A jet of flame was vomited into the sky, lighting the clouds like candles. And it looked at them.  
  
"Light it!" Quinn bellowed, "Light the damn piles!"  
  
One by one, the woodpiles went up in fire. Smoke coiled up from them with the sweet scent of pines. All around it the fire's blazed and the skin wriggled and jolted, even trying to lift off the ground as heat blazed. Quinn ducked inside the skin.  
  
"Quinn, what are you doing?" Alex cried.  
  
"Setting up the last pile," he answered coldly.  
  
Inside the skin, there was an eerie half-light and sound. Everything was deadened by the scales. But even through the hazy web he could make out the dragon rising up into the clouds. He stood inside holding the torch and matchbox. He was shaking hard. He dropped the box and scattered its contents on the damp floor.  
  
"Oh God!" he cursed and knelt down. One by one he picked up the matches and started striking them. None would light.  
  
"Come on, Quinn, let's go!" Anja was shouting in. The rest had run into the watchtower.  
  
"I'm coming," he called. He swore loudly as another match snapped in his fingers.  
  
"Come on, get out of there!"  
  
"What's the matter with you, you stupid woman?" Quinn yelled furiously. A roar went up from somewhere nearby.  
  
"Got it!" he cried as a flame shook in his hand. He set it to the torch then buried the end into the earth. The whole skin was alive now, expanding and shivering with the wavering heat.  
  
Quinn scuttled out to stand beside Anja.  
  
"I'm here, now let's go," he said firmly.  
  
"Oh God rest my soul," Anja replied. Her gaze was over Quinn's shoulder. He turned. 


	6. The Victory

~ .............................~  
  
Merciless let out a terrifying roar. It shook the landscape. She approached at straight course, her eyes fixed on that of the shimmering skin. She screamed, coming a yard closer with every great stride of wings. Quinn could feel perspiration crackling out on his brow. He had the faint sensation of sound behind him. The slam of a door.  
  
"I'm coming," Alex's voice rose over the wailing. She joined Quinn on his other side. "Anja, you have to go back in."  
  
"Not on your life," she said stonily.  
  
"Well, then you're being bait," Quinn told her with the flicker of a smile.  
  
"OK," Anja shrugged. Alex and Quinn looked at her very hard then at each other.  
  
"I brought two crossbows and a couple of arrows," Alex went on, "I hope your plan works. What if it just burns the thing down?"  
  
"No! Look at it! It's confused," Anja called out.  
  
Merciless was hovering before its shed skin. Her head was on one side, studying the outlines of herself.  
  
"She's not leaving, Quinn," Anja said, panic rising in her voice.  
  
"Make some noise. Shout, yell a bit. I'll go and get the skin to move," Quinn answered. He ran forward and began to shake the skin from the tail. It shuddered and danced on the valley top. Quinn let out a long screech that rose from the top of the scale to the bottom. Merciless' expression was that of pure fear. She roared back, spitting ash at her outline.  
  
Quinn shoved the skin forward with all his might. It flew forward and straight into the dragon's face. It shattered as she let out a spear of flame. But the skin was on her eyes, ears and draped over her back. She wheeled about in the air, screaming and wailing, then she plunged down and straight into the cliff wall, wings stretched out behind her.  
  
Alex and Anja grabbed the crossbows and loaded them. Their arrows zipped past the dimming fires and into the dragon's back. Merciless let out a moan and a puff of smoke escaped from her nostrils. Then the great eyes rolled back into her head and the dragon died.  
  
The three figures stood on the hilltop as night seeped in through the fissures of the sky. A white moon had appeared overhead, a new thin sliver like a blade. Pools of blood had mixed with the earth and sloshed like thick wine about the body. Pale beams of light leaned down to show Merciless in all her true colours. Her ragged wings were caught in a breeze and rustled like paper.  
  
"Well, let's go and look at her," Alex said, taking a step onto the slope. One by one, the companions slipped down into the gully. The smell of sulphur was everywhere. It was oppresive. Anja held her nose,  
  
"Gees, I wish dragons breathed something nice smeeling. Like chocolate perhaps."  
  
"Mmm, or citrus fruits."  
  
"Oh, I love that smell. Ever smelt fresh goat's milk?"  
  
"Sounds nice."  
  
"Oh, if dragons breathed that, then I'd practically begged to go and meet one!"  
  
Alex smiled as the pair wandered off together, laughing and joking while she investigated the remains. Merciless was no more than a scaly landslide. Her spines had wilted and the body was stiff and cold. The dragon's head had rammed into the hillside, breaking her neck clean in two. So that her face coiled round to meet Alex and she studied the tail. And her eyes fell on something among the ash and rubble. Something.man-made. 


	7. The Revelation

~ The last chapter now. Hope you all enjoyed it- thank you all so much for the reviews! ~  
  
"Quinn! Anja!" Alex shouted. Theey came hurrying over and the trio squatted down in the scorched ring of grass. Alex pointed at a thin metal tube. It's nylon tether had been sawn through with the impact and now it lay half buried in the mud.  
  
"Let's open it then," cried Anja.  
  
Quinn wrestled with the rusted lid and eventaully it came free. He bent over and used his index finger to draw out the item within. It was a message. Written on three sheets of note paper in large swirling script. Quinn began to laugh.  
  
"You'll never believe this!"  
  
Alex and Anja took it from his hands and scanned over the words. Their faces lit up like fire light.  
  
"There's a colony in Quebec. Of over seven thousand people from across the world living in the ruins of the capital. Seven thousand!"  
  
Quinn put his back to the dragon's paling body and patted it. And his hand met with the smouldering ends of some reigns. He shook his head and the smile flickered on his face.  
  
"Some poor bastard had to ride a dragon all the way from America. To tell us that we're not alone."  
  
Anja gripped his hand.  
  
"And we've got to go and get them."  
  
  
  
~ End 


End file.
